Unexpected Refuge
by BecauseSheToldMeTo
Summary: Kuei and Bosco are trying to acclimate to being on their own outside the walls of Ba Sing Se; Kuei comes face-to-face with serious danger.


It was still hard for the young king to tell what time it was just by looking at the placement of the sun, but he liked to think he was getting better at it. At least he could stare up at the sun without blinking as much now. Why anyone would enjoy this sort of time-telling was beyond him; the sun was not fun to look directly into and he couldn't imagine that it was good on the eyes. How these village folk weren't blind by now was beyond him. If his assessment was correct, what with how the sun was so bright it blinded him just by looking at it for a few seconds, then it was noon time, or at least close to it. Maybe a little after? Either way, it was time for a break.

"This looks like a good place to stop, Bosco," Kuei said, leaning forward to rub the furry neck of the bear he rode on. The animal gave a roar of agreement and stopped in his tracks, allowing Kuei only a few seconds to dismount before he plopped down onto his bottom and glanced around wistfully, which made Kuei smile.

"Yes, yes! You must be so hungry." He sat down and pulled the small bag off of his back, rummaging through it. The spoils weren't very promising. He could have sworn that he'd stocked up on food in the previous village, but here he was mistaken; just a stale loaf of bread and several miscellaneous crumbs of differing sizes. And even the loaf wasn't in its entirety, a mysterious bite had taken it clear down to its middle; a bite that, if he didn't know any better, had come from some large creature.

_How is it these wild animals keep getting into our food?_ he wondered. _This is the second time today._ He extracted the half-eaten bread and inspected it, moving his spectacles further up his nose.

It was only when he heard Bosco growl at him inquiringly that he gave up on the puzzling conundrum. "Well, it looks like we're going to have to go foraging again," he said. This wasn't the first or second or third time they'd had to do this; but, just as he was getting better at staring at the sun, Kuei found that he was getting better at finding plants that didn't cause horrible stomach cramps or rashes.

Bosco blinked at him then opened his mouth wide to let out a pitiful roar.

"I know we're not very good at this yet," the king admitted, smiling nonetheless. "But as Sokka pointed out, we have to try. We'll never survive sitting here. I'll go look this way" –he pointed to the woods on his left— "and you go that way." He pointed to the woods on his right. "We'll meet back here to show whatever we've found."

The bear whined again. Kuei, still smiling, rose from the ground and tossed the half-eaten loaf of bread at his friend's mouth. Bosco caught it and devoured it in seconds. "Now let's get going."

* * *

About half an hour later, bruised and covered in more scratches than when he'd started, Kuei emerged into their clearing with a few misshapen berries and some mushrooms that hadn't looked poisonous. He gave a smile of victory. "Look what I've managed to find, Bosco."

Bosco was curled up in a ball, fast asleep, right where Kuei had left him. The slight frown that had crept its way onto the king's face at seeing this instantly returned to a smile, however. "You sure are fast," Kuei said. "Gone and back already. And by the looks of it, you didn't manage to find anything." No wonder his poor bear was exhausted.

At the sound of Kuei's voice, Bosco's left ear twitched and he lifted his head to blink at him. When the bear saw the food in his arms, he was instantly awake and sitting back on his haunches again.

Kuei placed his spoils down on the ground- they were meager but they would have to do- and split the rations so that Bosco had the bigger share. "You can eat your share," he said, putting his own portion into the empty bag that was still lying on the ground. He grabbed the porcelain saucer and canteen that were tied to its sides. "While I go see if there's a river somewhere nearby. We need water."

* * *

There was indeed a river nearby. Apparently they'd been traveling some few minutes along its bank. And that, Kuei thought, was a stroke of luck on their part. He hummed to himself in satisfaction as he bent down near the water and started to fill both dish and flask, but something cut his tune off almost right away—a snapping of twigs from behind.

"You didn't have to follow me," he said, though quite touched that his companion had chosen to do so. "I was going to bring the water to you—" He broke off as he turned around. "Hello there, little one."

A young armadillo bear cub was emerging from the bushes, approaching at a cautious speed. It eyed him curiously when it reached the water, then bent its head down to get a drink. Kuei felt his stomach flip in excitement at the sight. A young wild bear! Here, in front of him! And not afraid of him like most of the wildlife they'd encountered so far.

He took the cub's lack of fear as a sign that he could approach, and did so with great caution, leaving the saucer and flash on the riverbank.

When it was done with its drink, the cub faced him, all timidness apparently gone, replaced with avid interest. It sat back and watched him, not shying away from his touch as he reached out to pet its soft head.

He'd had an armadillo bear once, though he'd sent it off to the zoo shortly after having received Bosco. He hadn't wanted the two bears to grow jealous of each other and fight, though the idea of Bosco having a playmate had seemed ideal at the time. This bear, just like the one he'd had for so short a time, had a rough hide on its back, though he noticed this one's shell was softer in its young age.

"Aren't you a handsome fellow," he said with a small laugh as it pushed into his hand to have him continue his rubbing of its ear.

It was just as he was moving to try and rub its softer underbelly that he heard a horrible growl to his left. He turned to see a much larger armadillo bear glaring at him, her lips already pulling back to reveal terribly jagged teeth. Her eyes were blazing with fury.

This, he knew, was a bad situation. He stared at her, then back to the cub, who he now realized was no longer there, but ambling up to its mother's side.

"I know how this must have looked to you," he stammered. "But I assure you I meant no harm to your handsome little–"

The she-bear roared. It was nothing like the hungry and placid roars that Bosco was always known to give, but a terrible roar that made it feel like the very earth was shaking. Kuei gave a shout of terror as she sprang at him, her dangerous claws lashing out at his head. He managed to tumble out of the way and they raked at air.

There was no time for thought; he was too blinded by his imminent doom to think of what to do except to scramble down the riverbank, yelling like a madman. But there was no way he could outrun a charging bear, and even as he realized this he felt his foot catch on a rock in the mud of the bank and he pitched forward into the river with a splash.

He came up spluttering just in time to catch the mother bear coming at him from a mere few feet away, and held his arms up to his face as if to shield himself from the onslaught, the smarting in his foot nothing compared to what he knew he would now face; those claws were so long and sharp, those teeth so terribly pointed!

A brown blur in the corner of his vision. Quite suddenly a massive furry thing collided with the mother bear with the force of a charging komodo rhino. Both animals toppled one over the other in a hairy ball of confusion and snarls.

"B-Bosco?"

Bosco was growling such a way as Kuei had never heard him growl before, his large paw pulling back to swipe at the female bear's face. But the armadillo bear, far older in years and much more experienced, was already pushing him off of her.

There was a moment when the two bears faced each other and the young king felt his heart sink with apprehension. There was no way Bosco could win such a fight. The she-bear was a veteran, a wild bear; Bosco, as Sokka had proved to him, couldn't even take care of himself. _But,_ Kuei thought, _Sokka also tried to teach Bosco to roar and he failed. Just now Bosco gave a bellow finer than any I've ever heard. _

The mother bear had only been trying to protect her young. Now that she saw the danger was gone, she clearly did not want to risk her health; her cub needed her. She let out another snarl before backing away and then running off through the trees.

Bosco, seeing his opponent run, seemed to come back to his senses and blinked after her in surprise.

"Bosco!" Kuei shouted, rushing to his bear and embracing him. "That was astounding! Are you hurt anywhere?" He pulled back from his hug and zealously searched for any signs of blood or broken bone, but there were none.

* * *

When they got back to the clearing – he'd had to ride Bosco because of his hurt foot– Kuei set the saucer down that he'd retrieved from the riverbank and hobbled over to the discarded bag. "You can have my share of what I found this afternoon," he said. "You deserve it." But when he reached in to take out the mushrooms and berries, he was surprised to find that they were gone.

_How_ do _they keep grabbing our food right out from under our noses like this?_ he wondered, turning the bag upside-down and frowning.


End file.
